I find it interesting that the difference in price between a 3100 and a 2552 is minuscule. Comparably equipped with the options I wanted it was about $400. The difference seemed to be a little more money for full body paint on the larger 3100. Shows you just how popular that 2552 has become. What I am also wrestling with and could use the groups help in my search and education is the cost difference between the PC and a few of the smaller Class As like the THOR ACE 29.2. If what I see for negotiated pricing in the RV forums is correct they can be had for about 70 to 75 thousand. A pretty huge savings from the PC. We visited a ACE at the dealers the other day and were impressed with the layout. Not so impressed with the single pane windows and thin walls. Good insulation is important to me for sound and heat living here in the great white north. Especially this year! -4 this morning at my house. So any thoughts you would like to share. Our education and search will go on for a while yet. Planning a visit to Hersey this fall to actually get in some of these and see how they feel. We are on the 14 month plan.

I can't speak for the ACE or other smaller A's (though we crawled in and out of most of them) but I can make note of a few things that put us in the 2552 instead of the 3100 - size and payload. Some national parks and state parks have a 27 foot limit. Many have a 30 foot limit. We expect to spend a lot of time in both types of park so we refused to even look at anything longer than 30 feet. When we were ordering our Phoenix, Stuart tried to talk us into the longer unit with the belief we'd just be trading in for a bigger one in a year anyhow. The extra space would be awesome but I questioned what the extra length, slide and dinette would cost us in weight. I didn't get a tried and true figure since every rig is different but it was in the range of about 1,000 lbs. I believe the payload on the 2552 is about 3k so we'd lose a full third. That may be OK for short trips or even a few months with a loaded car tooling along behind but to carry everything we would need as full timers (plus what we need in office gear for the work side), we just didn't think it was enough.

We did three days at Hershey two years ago to narrow down our choices. I recommend you spend a lot of time up front and make a list of maybe five things you HAVE to have. We were dragging by day three of the show but we left with a list of (and brochures for) 4 or 5 possible units. THEN we were at the decisions-decisions point. Our five points would have been: 1) length; 2) payload/weight; 3) functional bathroom; 4) functional kitchen; 5) room for two people to work. Everyone will have a different list depending on how they like to travel, where they like to stay, and what they do when it rains for 5 days and they are stuck inside.

Only thing I can add to what John/Holly said is that I would be sure to take a look at the cargo carrying capacity. When I was looking at class A's I was astounded at how much cargo 'area' many had, but how little 'capacity' was available before becoming overloaded. In a couple of cases, the CCC was as little as 600 lbs, but there was enough space to put thousands of pounds of stuff.

The only thing I can add is to email Aimee on this forum and ask her if their any owners of the larger PCs near you that you can visit. It works out for both parties because you get the real scoop from an owner and if you buy and let the factory know you visited someone, they get $500. Most owner love talking about their PC anyway.

Dick,I think decision process is determined by how you plan to use the MH and what options may be important to you.

For us, when we ordered the 2910 as a custom coming from the 2551, we wanted a comfortable living area. The Euro chairs and the galley area certainly fit the bill. This year we plan to spend the month of August on Orr's Island in Maine and then head to NH and Vermont. We will be in New England for 3 monthes. We also wanted twin beds--actually what we really wanted was the front of the 2910 and rear of the 3100 but Kermit could not build it that way.

As you said, insulated glass windows were a must for us. Noise level was a major factor in that decision.

Phoenix will build what you want if it is possible.

We travelled to the Grand Canyon and other National Parks and were very comfortable. There was no problem towing our Honda Fit.

Another thought in the buying decision is Customer Support. We did not know, at the time we bought our 2350, of the fantastic customer service. Once you buy your PC, Kermit and the crew at the factory will do everything in their power to help out with "whatever". I can't tell you how many times Kermit, the owner of PC, has called us to answer questions. We are so impressed with that.

If you want to see our 2910 this summer, send us a PM and we can hook up somewhere in ME or NH.

Two years ago at Hershey, PA we made the decision to buy a Phoenix after looking at other manufacturers. A major selling point for me was the quality as compared to other manufacturers with units in the same price range. Phoenix had a 2910D at the show, but we wanted a 2910T which was a smaller version of our Class A while full timing for five years. We picked up the PC in November 2012. During the trip home to NH we decided that the queen bed arrangement was too different from what we were used to. My issue is back problems and I had trouble getting in and out of the bed.

To reinforce the excellent customer support provided by Kermit and his crew, we were able to trade in our 2910T (with just 1000 miles) for a custom 2910 with the twin beds like Judi and George have. The deal was more than acceptable and Kermit's son flew to NH to pick up the 2910T. Since March 2013, when we picked up the second PC, we have had factory support that far exceeds anything we had when we were on the road full time.

If you are interested in seeing our 2910 feel free to contact me. We live in the Lakes Region and I have a heated garage so it is available anytime we are not traveling.

When shopping for our replacement motor home in 2006/2007, I was attracted to a local RV tent sale. There I seen a brand new short class A with an inviting $59,000 sticker on the window. It looked sharp from a distance, but then I stepped inside. Put plainly, it was put together very poorly and with cheap materials. I could see it wouldn't hold up to the beating of being driven for lots of miles. Another strange phenomena was that I could not breathe inside it. I actually felt faint and had to leave before I passed out. There was an outgassing of chemicals from the construction process that had me getting dizzy. Maybe it was from the particle board formaldehyde or adhesives or something else, or a bunch of chemical outgassing in combination. One thing for sure, I couldn't buy that rig if I wanted to. I'd die inside it.

Around that time, a family member had us sleep inside his 5th wheel. That too had a similar odor and effect on me. It was an older trailer which I had assumed much of such chemical outgassing was over with, but such remnants had me wake up with a splitting headache the next morning even though we had the windows open all night.

We've had no such chemical outgassing issues with our PC.

Another matter all together different. Unlike the masses here and abroad, my wife and I don't value a slide out simply to gain more open floor space. The extra cost to purchase, the extra 400 pounds per slide out, the extra mechanical complexity & seals with age will become a liability, the loss of interior storage, the cold heat noise bug and wind driven rain infiltrations, all combined doesn't justify the benefit. We also highly value the dinette (with memory foam cushions) which cannot be installed in many of the PC slide outs. It does help to have our 3rd captain seat for a place to kick back and relax, today that is a Euro chair. If you feel as we do, a no-slide out is an option for you to consider.

The only other benefit to a slide out would be for resale benefits as most people are initially attracted to them when shopping for a motor home. They look impressive when opened up inside.....great eye candy.

I do need to include here that we travel without children or dogs. If we had more bodies inside, I'd think the extra floor space would be of great value to us. But for just the two of us, ordering our rig with a slide out would be regretful. We elected to spend that money on a full body paint job which we like very much.

You can view our 2350 with no slide out by clicking on my orange ron.dittmer name, then my website.

« Last Edit: March 05, 2014, 06:07:15 pm by ron.dittmer »

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Ron Dittmer (wife Irene) 2007 Model 2350 Without A SlideoutOur Rig Is Available For Viewing Any Time Of Year In Dundee, ILStored At Home In Our Heated Garage (Well-Lit & Warm Comfort In Winter)

Thank you all for the comments. They reinforce what I have come to believe after spending some time on this forum over the past year. We will just need to get inside some more of all types of MH. We did like the floor plan of that ACE 29.2 but the quality and durability was suspect. The cost difference is substantial though. We keep a close eye on the used market here too. I am reminded of one of my custom builder clients though. A home buyer was complaining about the cost of a custom staircase the builder quoted. The builders response was, "Do you want all the nails or just some of them?" Jim we will be in touch.

I spent four years after I retired from the world of computers selling RVs. i had been camping for over 30 years before that. I would like to think I did not BS anyone. So I don't care for your comment.